


Blood on Tenth Street

by deepestwells



Series: Between Stars [1]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: 10th Street Reds - Freeform, Before Mass Effect, Earthborn, Earthborn Shepard, Gen, Tenth Street Reds, pre-me1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-28
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-06-05 01:58:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6684658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestwells/pseuds/deepestwells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Before Shepard joined the Alliance, she ran with the Tenth Street Reds, content to fight for survival in a slum on Earth. Her turian friend convinces her that perhaps there's more out there in the great, wide galaxy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sentimental Portraits of Earth Trash

The clatter of her shoes was suddenly too loud and her lungs burned as though she had never run before. Sirens that were the perpetual background in the slums were suddenly too close. She had to get away. There was blood on her hands, but it wasn't her fault, was it? It must be because he wouldn’t be dead if it wasn’t for her. What could she do? There was only one way out now. The only place where she could possibly run far enough.

The decision having solidified in her mind she finally felt safe enough to stop running. She shot down an alley and slammed her back into the brick of the antique building. Her chest rose and fell in quick succession as she tried to catch her breath. When her chest no longer felt like it was bursting she looked down at her shaking hands which were now getting sticky from the dried blood. It wasn't her blood – it was blue going on black.

“Oh Valerius, why would you do that?” she cried. Her breath dragged in and out of her as if by force and her ribcage felt near to bursting. Her anguished sobs only added to the background cacophony of the slums, just one more voice in misery.

It took her an hour to get back to the hovel apartment of a forever absent friend that she called home and change out of her bloody clothes, scrub off the blood, and pack the few things she owned into her ratty backpack, and to close the door on her old life.

It took her another hour to walk to the Alliance recruitment office where that one recruiting officer that she had first talked to worked.

It took another eight hours of waiting until the daylight hours on a nearby curb for the office to open and for her new life to start.

 

“Yo Shepard, I've got an idea for a job,” said the young woman next to her.

Shepard didn't bother to open her eyes against the sun and kept lying on the concrete divider. “You always have an idea for a job, Anki,” she laughed. “I've decided to finally value myself. I refuse to get up for anything short of instant, police-free riches.”

“You're going to be waiting a long time then,” said a rich voice with the distinctive harmonious undertones of a turian.

Shepard jumped up despite the pain that such a sudden motion caused her back. “Valerius! What are you doing here?”

“Walking in on a criminal conspiracy it seems,” he says, mandible twitching in what Shepard recently learned was turian amusement.

Shepard rubbed the back of her head and then ran a hand through her hair, attempting to smooth the long hair around her undercut to no avail. “Nothing criminal here.”

Anki sat up too though decidedly more slowly. She elbowed Shepard painfully in the ribs. “What're you preening for, eh?”

Shepard elbowed her back. “Am not.”

Anki sniffed with a slight frown. Like most of their circle of friends who only knew the human neighborhoods of Earth, Anki was uncomfortable about the few aliens that they met.

Valerius's cool alien gaze just looked on until the teenagers sorted themselves out.

“Sorry,” Shepard finally uttered, cheeks flushing.

“Don't worry about it. I did move to Earth to observe humans and their culture, after all. Anyway, I was just heading home. You want to carry my groceries and generally do all sorts of errands for me?”

Anki snorted again as Shepard hurriedly grabbed Valerius's bags. “I'd be happy to!”

“You know that Dole isn't going to like this, right? He's got a stick up his ass about aliens,” said Shepard's friend, understating the truth. “No offense.” This last was aimed at the only alien present. He shrugged but said nothing.

“Dole can bite my ass. I’ll see you later, Anki,” Shepard said, starting to move with Valerius towards his apartment.

“I won’t always be around to cover you!” she called after Shepard playfully, with the cynical edge characteristic of their gang associates. Shepard waved her free arm without turning around.

“So why are you called the Tenth Street Reds?” asked Valerius frankly after a few moments of silence.

“Dole thought he was being clever when he came up with the name. He started his operation on Tenth Street so it’s sort of a reminder of where we came from. And red’s just the color of blood,” Shepard said. She blushed then, feeling silly. “Our blood, that is.”

She had a question of her own to pose. “So what’re you doing on Earth? And here of all places? You never did tell me.”

“I like to write about people and I find that understanding helps to breed compassion,” he hummed. “And knowing how the poor of a species live gives a greater insight into the people.”  
Shepard bristled slightly. “So what you’re studying us? Me?”

Valerius looked at her in a way that on a human would have translated to a raised eye brow. “In a sense,” he said carefully. “But I’m not an impartial observer. I’m afraid that often I get pretty sentimental about the people I interact with. My works are rarely scientific anthropological studies and more… vignettes or sentimental portraits that illustrate how the people of this galaxy live. I guess you could say I care too much.”

Shepard huffed, mollified. “Fine, I’ll let that slide. Besides, you’re the most exciting thing that has ever happened to me around here.”

“Even with your gang affiliations?”

Shepard reddened, feeling even more like a child playing at community and violence. “Umm, yeah. I guess. Nothing we do matters really.”

Valerius hummed understandingly and thought quietly for a moment. “So why stay then? You have other options.”

She barked a laugh then. “’Other options’? Which options are those, exactly? The system didn’t even care enough about me to get me back when I ran away. None of the foster parents I ever had gave a shit either.”

“What about school?”

“What about it?” she said, getting angry now. “Nothing I learn in school would ever be helpful. And it’s not like I’d be able to go to college and ‘make a better life for myself.’” She raised her voice to a high, mocking pitch on the last part.

“You’re certainly smart enough. And you definitely have some biotic potential,” Valerius said. “It’s true that life hasn’t been kind to you, but you still have options even if it doesn’t seem like it. You don’t have to surrender to a life of petty crime and a future in and out of prison. Never mind your gang leader’s questionable attitudes towards the greater galactic community.”

“What’s the point?” Shepard spit out. “I was born trash. My parents didn’t even want me and they brought me into this world. And I’ll die trash. At least for now I have people that actually care if I show up some place.”

“Yes, you do.” Valerius placed a three-fingered hand on her shoulder and looked at her. They had stopped walking and the turian applied gentle pressure, turning her to face him. “Your life has always been a struggle,” he said. “But you can choose what you struggle for. You can choose to struggle for better, not just for survival.” He looked meaningfully up at the building sign where they stopped.

Shepard was about to shrug off his hand when she saw what he was looking at and sighed. “The Alliance? Really? They’re not going to want me, being a petty criminal and all. And I didn’t even finish school.”

“You don’t know that for sure. And yes, really. That’s why you should talk to a recruiter and find out what your options are. You said you wanted to see more than just these slums. If you join the Alliance you would get to go to space, see things beyond your imagination. And perhaps even interact with more aliens. It’ll give you perspective.”

Shepard was unsure. The future that Valerius described was suddenly too big and too scary. There’s no way she would pass muster, right? “Could you come with me in there?” she asked quietly.

Valerius nodded and said, “Of course, my young friend.” Had he been human Shepard was sure he would have been smiling gently.

 

Shepard later found herself on the shitty couch of her friend, staring at the Alliance brochures in her hands. Coral was rarely in her apartment, preferring to stay with her boyfriend of the month, so she let Shepard crash at her place ever since she ran away from her foster parents’ right before she turned eighteen. And now that Shepard was legally an adult, she continued her residence at Coral’s apartment. She couldn’t recall the last time she actually talked to her friend, who had been rather absorbed with her latest boyfriend.

So the Alliance wasn’t so bad, Shepard realized. They would take her after all. They would even train her in biotics. Sure, she’d have to do some remedial classes as part of her preliminary training since she didn’t finish school, but she wouldn’t have to stay in the slums since they’d help her relocate until she could officially start basic training. Here she had a way out. She just had to cut her gang ties.

And there was the rub. Dole was a controlling bastard, which was understandable for a gang leader. He wasn’t likely to just let Shepard walk away. She stuffed the brochures in the couch cushions so that Coral wouldn’t find them on the off chance that she reemerged. She was a friend of Dole’s even though she wasn’t part of the Reds. Shepard didn’t want her to accidentally say something and cause a scene. She didn’t want Dole to make an example of her. He’d done it before.


	2. Stinging Memories

When she was summoned that night, she went, forgetting all about her brochures and the picture of a brighter future that was painted for her. The Tenth Street Reds had a headquarters of sorts in an alley off of Tenth Street. The gang took over that alley a few years prior and now everyone in the neighborhood knew to avoid it. At the end of the alley was a dead end where a bunch of crates and an old mattress were piled up in a melancholy imitation of a throne.

The alley smelled particularly bad to Shepard that night and she panicked at the notion that Dole might notice her unschooled features and would think that something was going on with her. She leaned against the alley wall in her usual spot, a bit of a ways away from Dole, sitting on his shitty throne. The gang chattered among themselves as members streamed in for the meeting. Shepard talked to no one in particular, choosing to chew her gum in the most petulant manner possible as though nothing had happened. She tried not to cough as someone blew cigarette smoke in her face. Smoking was the one bad habit she hadn’t picked up.

Shepard spotted Anki across the alley, mingling on the opposite wall. They nodded to each other in greeting. All too soon the meeting had begun, and while Shepard was increasingly anxious, she was somewhat relieved that soon it will be over.

“How’s everyone doing tonight?” Dole suddenly called over the din. Everyone instantly shut up. Their illustrious leader frowned somewhat that his call went unanswered, but he continued on as if his question had been rhetorical and not a call and response. “As some of you may know, I’ve got plans for this group of excellent people I see before me,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t intend to rule over a piss-soaked alley for the rest of my life.”

There was tight laughter after Dole’s lips twisted into what could normally be called a smile and it was apparent that such a response was expected. Shepard surveyed the other Reds from under her eyelashes.

The speech continued. “Yes, and if you stick with me, one day you’ll get to see and help run our operation on the Citadel.”

“The Citadel?” called someone optimistically from the end of the alley. A clear plant from Dole. Shepard recognized one of his top lieutenants and almost scoffed out loud at the theatrics.

Dole smiled in what he probably imagined was a benevolent manner. “Yes. I’ve already begun to work a few connections that will help us spread our operation to the capital of Council Space.” He looked around, clearly waiting for smiles and approving nods. Shepard mimicked the others though her agreement was hollow. If she was lucky, she would long be gone by then.

“But it seems like some of you don’t want to stick around for that,” he said, freezing the blood in Shepard’s veins. “Some of you are thinking of abandoning your friends, your family in the Reds, and joining the Alliance.” He spit out that last word. “After all that I and the Reds have done to help you, you think you’re better than us.”

He stood up with a flourish and zeroed in on Shepard. She made no move and kept her face completely clear of any and all features. Dole slowly walked down the alley and stood in front of her section of wall. He looked to someone standing at her right shoulder and she felt someone shoulder check her out into the middle of the alley to stand right in front of Dole.

She righted herself quickly, not giving him or anyone the satisfaction of seeing her stumble. She lifted her chin defiantly and her gaze was unwavering. Dole searched her face, she didn’t know what for, but no matter what it was, she wasn’t expecting the punch to her gut that he delivered.

She crumpled to the ground, lungs unable to take in any air. Panic overtook her as the seconds passed and her ability to breathe did not return. The air around her seemed to flicker and she briefly saw flashes of blue. She was on all fours on the disgusting alley pavement. The filth didn’t start registering until she started breathing again and the coughing started. 

Dole waited patiently as she sputtered and said, “Your ‘biotics’ won’t help you now.” He was right on that count, of course. Shepard had biotic potential but nothing more. She didn’t have an implant and she didn’t have any training, so besides the occasional weak push and light shows, she was rather unimpressive. And her biotics certainly would not help her in a fight.

After a few moments Shepard could finally look at the faces around her and what she saw was not encouraging. The other gang members, people she saw as her friends, were looking at her with disgust or with no expression at all. She was suddenly surrounded by indiffirent strangers.

Having decided that she’d had enough air, Dole dragged her to her feet by the lapels of her leather jacket. With that motion he also managed to grab a fistful of her hair and Shepard found it within herself to be flippant. “Mind letting go of my hair?”

Dole’s face twisted into an ugly grimace then and he shoved her back to the pavement. He then purposefully grabbed her by the hair and rattled her around as she shrieked from the sharp pain. “Your hair, huh?” he spit out. “How’s this?” He pulled out a butterfly knife with his free hand, spinning the thing open and slashing at the hair between Shepard’s scalp and his hand.

Since he was holding her up solely by her hair, the sudden freedom from his grasp had Shepard collapsing again and barely catching herself by her hands before her face made contact with the filth on the ground. “Thanks,” she said. “Saved me from having to get a haircut.”

“You think this is funny, do you?” Dole said, not letting her up to his level and slamming his steel-toed boots into her shins.

Shepard hissed but the defiance in her eyes wouldn’t go out. And neither would her rage.

“You think you can just accept the hospitality of the Reds and then just walk out on us? We did so much for you. I did so much for you and you would just throw that in my face?” More kicking, this time aimed at her middle until she finally curled up in the fetal position, attempting to protect her already bruised diaphragm.

“The Alliance doesn’t want trash like you! You don’t belong. You’re just lucky we took you in. We made you who you are.” More of the gang began to surround her until all she saw through her involuntary tears were legs and viciously clad feet.

“You leave when I say you leave.” And then it was only a flurry of kicks and Shepard stopped paying attention to anything, feeling every moment drag on as she succumbed to her survival instincts. She curled up even tighter in on herself to protect her head and her middle as her so called friends kicked the shit out of her.

A lifetime later Dole barked, “Enough!” The barrage came to a sudden end and air rushed in as everyone backed up off of Shepard. “Have you learned your place yet?”

She could do nothing but continue to lay on the ground. Dole grabbed her by what remained of her hair and forced her to look at him. “Well, have you?”   
He shook her viciously until she could whisper. “Yes.”

“And?” he prompted.

“I…am trash… this is my place.”

“Good girl,” he said, releasing his hold on her. She crumpled back onto the ground in the circle that had formed around her. “Now, you’re going to prove that you learned your lesson well by breaking into that blasted turian’s place tomorrow and raiding it for anything valuable.”  
Shepard was afraid before, in that primal way a person fears pain, but this was a new fear, one that twisted her heart and made more tears flow down her battered and bloody face. “I don’t know who you mean,” she said.

“Oh, I think you do. It’s that filthy alien friend of yours who’s here ‘observing’ humans as if we were animals.” Dole spit on the ground and continued, “You’re going to get into his apartment tomorrow and take his shit.

“And should he still happen to be there when you arrive, I expect you to bring me back his fringe.” Shepard didn’t look up as Dole pointed to a few people in the gathered crowd. “Take some friends with you to make sure you follow through. And if you don’t, I can guarantee you that someone in this neighborhood will. I expect you to report back to me at midnight tomorrow.”

The gang began to disperse then until only Shepard remained in the alley, curled up in the filth and her own blood. She heard soft footsteps approach her. “I told you befriending the alien was trouble,” said Anki as she helped Shepard to her feet.

Shepard started laughing and then doubled over to spit out some blood. Her friend made a disgusted noise as she got blood spray onto Anki’s shoes.

“I’m going to have to go with you tomorrow,” she admitted.

Shepard shook her head repeatedly. “No,” she finally managed to whisper.

Anki started helping her down the street. “You don’t have a choice.” She made Shepard look at her, though considerably more gently than Dole had done. “Look at you,” she said, her voice pained. “The Alliance only takes the best. Or at least the good. They don’t want street rats and gang members. This is your life. You’ll save yourself a lot of pain if you just accept that.”

Shepard’s mind was numb even as she felt all her bruises and cuts. What little ray of hope had materialized earlier that day had been violently snuffed out. She should have known better than to think she could be anything but what she was. But Valerius… she couldn’t betray his trust, she couldn’t. 

But if she didn’t, Dole would have him killed.

Anki helped get Shepard to Coral’s apartment. She dropped Shepard on the couch and was about to walk out when she hesitated by the door and said, “Don’t try to warn him, Shep. He’ll be watching.” She looked like she was going to say something else too, but instead she closed the door behind herself.

Shepard knew that Anki was trying to help her, but all that Shepard could remember was how her friend had done nothing when she was getting pummeled. Shepard hadn’t seen signs of her friend among her abusers, but she also heard no cries of objection. It was self-defense, of course. You don’t survive for long if you stand in between Dole and his goals, especially if that goal is to discipline his people, but Shepard had hoped that she would at least try. She should have known better. Anki would have faced perhaps even worse if she had stepped up. So Shepard understood, even if the memory stung.

Shepard made a decision then. She would not cower in self-defense. She might not be able to warn Valerius in person, but she wasn’t just going to sit by while he was in danger. She didn’t want any of his memories of her to sting.


	3. Split Second Decisions for the Rest of Your Life

Despite her many injuries, she limped to the bathroom and washed the worst of the blood and pavement off of her face and hands, leaving as much of her makeup intact as she could. She walked out of the apartment, each step lighting up her body with pain.

Dole would have someone tail her, but if she could lose her tail, she could send Valerius a message, with no one the wiser.

Shepard headed into the best lit part of the neighborhood and occasionally paused as if resting from her injuries. It wasn’t much of a fiction since every step made her wish that she was dead so that she could be free of the pain. On one of these breaks she finally managed to get a look at her tail.

He looked young. Way too young to be in the Reds, but Shepard knew that Dole served as a father figure to plenty of lost children. She thought she recognized the kid too. Robin? Finch? Some sort of bird. Not that it mattered. At least, it shouldn’t have, but she knew he’d be punished for losing track of her.

She wouldn’t let herself hesitate too long. The kid might get slapped around a bit for being such a terrible tail that he managed to lose a woman too injured to walk straight, but if Shepard didn’t lose him, her friend would die. The kid would just have to be strong. And if he couldn’t handle it, the streets would chew him up soon enough anyway.

Shepard picked up her pace and made her way to a twenty four hour convenience store. She made a show of walking down the aisles, until she spotted the kid parked across the street. She then surreptitiously walked over to the clerk who was hidden behind miles of bulletproof plastic. The neighborhood wasn’t rich enough to warrant mass effect fields to protect clerks from being shot up by gangsters.

“I need to sneak out through the back,” she said calmly to the young woman who was standing there looking bored as she rung up the random items that Shepard had grabbed. When the clerk looked up at her, she visibly winced at the sight of Shepard’s injuries. She nodded to her and pointed at the employee only door. “Sure thing,” she said. Shepard paid for her items and the clerk stepped out of her protective bubble after handing Shepard a bag with her random drinks and candy bars.

The clerk opened the door with an entrance code and waved Shepard in. “It’s at the end of the hall and down the left,” she said, pausing and then, “I hope that whoever did this to you gets what’s coming to them.”

Shepard attempted to smile as best as her injuries would allow. “That would be nice, but I highly doubt that would happen. Thanks again.”

Shepard hustled down that hall and out the back of the convenience store as quickly as her body would let her. She reached the nearest public terminal within minutes and typed out an urgent message to her turian friend.

_Something bad is going down at your place tomorrow night. Please don’t be there then, it’s too dangerous. I’m so, so sorry. –Shep_

Shepard hoped the message was clear enough and that Valerius would be scarce tomorrow night. She hurried back in the direction of the convenience store, emerging onto the street from around the building and making sure her tail caught sight of her as she moved onto his side of the street. She hoped that she had thrown him off enough to not to wonder too much about how she got out of the store. She limped home and didn’t emerge from the apartment until the following night at nine o’clock when Anki and a few other Reds showed up at her door.

They walked to Valerius’s building like the bunch of punks that they were. Shepard did her best to scowl despite her busted up face.

“Anyone know if he’s up there?” she asked in the most even voice she could muster.

One of the guys, Thomas, that came with them shoulder checked her from behind as he walked up to the door. “No idea,” he said, grinning. “This is gonna be fun.”

Breaking into apartments wasn’t all that difficult if you didn’t care whether or not you left evidence of your entrance. Shepard stared at the busted open door as the Reds flowed around her as though she was a rock in the middle of a stream. She didn’t walk into the apartment until she heard shouts and caught sight of Valerius being dragged into the main room.

They made eye contact, his gaze daring her to make the scariest decision of her life, even as she desperately called out to him mentally and demanded to know why he didn’t heed her warning. What kind of a person was she going to be? It would be decided first right then and there.

“No!” she shouted, rushing into the room and coming to stand with Valerius. “Stop this, right now!”

Thomas, the Red who had declared this to be an evening of fun got up in her face, his own twisting into an ugly expression. “You dare to defy Dole? You heard what he said about this _turian_. And besides,” he pulled out a pistol as he backed up and aimed it at her. “You should have probably guessed what he told me to do if you wouldn’t cooperate.”

A spell came over the rest of the gang once the gun had come out. They all formed a loose circle around Shepard and Valerius, their expressions hard. Even Anki, who had been a longtime friend, no longer looked like she wanted to have Shepard’s back.

Shepard trembled slightly. She’d been around guns before but had never had one pointed so close to her face. She stood unmoving and unsure until she felt Valerius step up beside her and place a reassuring hand on her shoulder. “Everything is going to be just fine,” he said quietly to her, as though no one else was there. She looked to him then and got the distinct expression that he was trying to tell her something.

Thomas twitched then and Shepard felt the sharp pain of her elbow making impact with the floor as Valerius shoved her out of the way. She knew what was coming next if she didn’t move so she tried to scramble up to her feet to have a fighting chance. But the blows she expected never came, as the Reds who were able scrambled out of the apartment just as fast as they could. All except Thomas, who was lying on the floor moaning in pain and clutching at his bloodied shoulder, his illicit pistol lying on the floor out of his reach.

Shepard looked to Valerius, who had crumpled to the ground. He had a pistol nearby too, which explained Thomas’s wound. She fell to her knees next to her friend, clutching at his three-fingered hand. It was sticky with turian blood.

“No no no…” Shepard whispered fiercely, as though the words could banish the fatal gunshot.

“The kid… got lucky,” Valerius managed with what passed for an iron smile for a turian.

“Valerius, why didn’t you leave?” Shepard asked him as the tears started blurring her vision. Sirens started in the background. It wouldn’t be long now.

“Because I knew that if I left, you never would,” he whispered, his breathing becoming more and more labored. “You need… to go.”

“I can’t just leave you like this!” Her voice was getting shrill. “There has to be something I can do!”

“I’ve seen wounds like mine in my army days,” he managed, looking down at his gut. It was bleeding too much and help was too far away. “Nothing can help me. You have to be okay with that.”

“No, this is all my fault, I have to fix this.”

“You have to go. Please. Don’t… waste the… opportunity.” His hand went slack in hers and it was then that she felt that he was holding something. She continued holding on to his limp hand as she extracted a data drive.

The tears were more insistent then. She leaned forward to touch Valerius’s forehead with her own and after a moment, she ran away, the data drive stuffed hurriedly into her pocket.

She ran and ran but there was no one in pursuit. It wouldn’t be long until Dole would hear about what happened, so she needed to disappear quickly. She threw away the blood stained clothes when she got to Coral’s apartment. She scrubbed herself the best she could. The blood of her friend finally came off and she looked at herself in the mirror. Her makeup, still seemingly permanently caked onto her face, made her look old and twisted, the trails of her tears in stark black against her skin. She couldn’t even remember what she looked like without it.

With fierce determination and water that was too hot she scrubbed at her face and eyes until not even the ghost of mascara or eyeliner remained. What was left was a young and scared girl. One who had made too many bad decisions. One who had gotten her friend killed.

What remained of her raggedy hair would have to stay for a while. She didn’t have the tools or the time to deal with it, so she just pulled it back as best she could and threw on her least punk clothes. The rest of her possessions, what little of them remained, she threw into a bag, including Valerius’s data drive.

She walked out of the apartment, closing the door and locking it behind her without even a last look. She slid her key under the door when she was done.

She made her way to the Alliance recruiting station as carefully as she could, always on the lookout for the Reds. Much to her surprise they never came, but she couldn’t feel any relief. Not yet. She couldn’t feel it and she wouldn’t let herself feel it. Valerius was dead and it was her fault. It was her fault. She repeated this to herself like a mantra for the next several hours as she waited for the recruitment center to open. She didn’t have the heart to listen to Valerius’s message while she was still alone sitting on the curb in the dark city.

The recruitment officer didn’t look surprised to see her on the curb outside the building. He simply unlocked the door and gestured her inside. Without a word Shepard stood, grabbing her bag and walked into the only place where she could feel safe at the moment. And then she started talking.

She told the officer everything that had happened in excruciating detail because she refused to accept a chance at a life in the Alliance if they would only have her on a lie.

The officer listened to her as she spoke and said nothing throughout the whole story until the words finally stopped tumbling out of her mouth.


End file.
